Game 20, 2015

Giants at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, MLBN

Like yesterday’s, this game is a rematch of the starters in last week’s series. Clayton Kershaw and Madison Bumgarner squared off last Wednesday. Neither one got the decision in a game ultimately won by the Giants. Each gave up two runs; Kershaw gave up three hits, Bumgarner gave up six. Kershaw walked one and struck out nine, Bumgarner walked two and struck out six. Each pitcher has faced the other team a lot in his respective career: Kershaw is 14-5 against the Giants with a 1.48 ERA and four shutouts. Bumgarner is 11-5 against the Dodgers with a 2.56 ERA.

Lineup when available.

The reason Alex is in left field is that Carl Crawford was placed on the 15-day DL and IF/OF Kiké Hernandez was brought up from Oklahoma City. There’s been no Twitter explanation for Joc’s absence from the starting lineup.

149 thoughts on “Game 20, 2015

  1. Related, DM takes deserved heat for pitcher management.

    But his quickly yanking Anderson last time out at 4 2/3 IP, just one out short of qualifying for a win, played into a team victory–regardless of the chance for a pitcher win. DM saw the wheels coming off. Anderson admitted as much later.

    Another good sign was when DM told Yimi he wanted him facing the 3 toughest Gnat hitters in the 8th Monday. Usual Yimi results…1 IP 0 R 2K. Almost amazing for DM. Certainly encouraging.

    • Will be interesting if he decides to be more flexible with Kenley when he returns.

  2. By the way, Congratulations for everyone’s participation before the game today. I know some people have to work and that can really put a crimp on internet surfing and fandom participation but being a baseball fan is a full time job, not just during the game. Thank you for entertaining me.

  3. When he signed, I saw several mentions of how great Anderson’s stuff is.

    He’s sure not missing many bats, and sure not lasting long into games so far. Nor is his extreme ground ball reputation bearing out.

    So, Dodgers may have to worry about another starter for performance reasons–even if he’s actually healthy.

  4. Notes: (from “The Glass Half-Empty” crowd….. )
    ….
    1. Donny’s ” RH Shuffle ” / anemic lineup vs. Bumgarner – Results = 0 wins, 2 losses.
    2. “Heart-less” of the order – 1 for 15 last night.
    3. Justin Turner should have been squeezing in the 4th. If successful, that puts runner on 3rd
    with Kendrick up and 1 out. (his ground ball to SS would have driven in the tying run)
    * In this ‘alternate universe’ we call Dodger Fandom, Turner seems to have acquired a kind
    of ‘folk hero’ status… Hey, I like the guy. But, he’s a back-up-caliber player. When he’s
    your #3 hitter vs. Bumgarner? —- You’re in trouble. IMHO.
    4. Rollins – continues to struggle offensively – vs. – Giants
    5. Despite the fact that the ‘pen’ didn’t give up any runs, to me… they struggled… looked poor.
    Way too many base runners. Certainly didn’t look to be ‘in command’ of anything….
    6. Brandon McCarthy… You’ve got to be kidding me….. Farhan and medical evaluators. Best of
    luck to Brandon… He seems very nice, but, what a waste of time, effort, and cash.

    • 1. It was a good day to give AGon a rest, with bad numbers v. BadGums, but I would have left Pederson in the lineup. The Dodger bench, though, is the best in baseball, and many of them would be starting elsewhere.
      2. Give credit to a good pitcher, even if he’ll never be Kershaw.
      3. Turner’s not an everyday player, but has excellent numbers v. BadGums.
      4. Rollins should be lower in the order until he gets going.
      5. The ‘pen’s been among baseball’s best. They got the job done.
      6. McCarthy had never had an elbow problem before. He has had shoulder problems, but still appears to have recovered from them.

      • To your point #6: A lot of times reaction/adjustment to one injury can cause the development of another. You favor an injured foot and cause knee or back problems. I can easily believe an elbow injury might change something and cause a shoulder problem. Actually I think the pitcher injuries today are caused by the style of pitching that has evolved, they do things now that, although physically possible, are beyond the way Koufax and Drysdale and past greats pitched, and beyond the physiological limits man was actually designed to do. But if you can do it for a year or two, you can make enough money to last you the rest of your life or until the whole house of cards collapses.
        Time to shut up, I’m talking too much again.

    • All good points in my book. I especially dislike/don’t understand the bent-arm pitchers they signed. $20MM for one good pitcher makes more sense than the same amount for two flawed wings who had maybe a 30% chance of completing the year anyway. The other things are the day to day ineptitudes of the bad manager we’re stuck with. It’s going to be a long year…

      • Had wanted them to go for a frontliner as well in the off season (heck, last season I was willing to give up Joc for a couple months of Lester) and agree there will be pressure for them to be active, but I can see them trying to cobble together a starter from the several guys they still have in the bag and waiting for Ryu to come back.

          • Unfortunately that’s the kind of pitcher they shop for. And we used to deride Ned for being a bottom feeder…

          • Don’t agree. There is (was) at least potential upside from what they have put together, as compared to last year and Maholm, Carmona and Correia.

        • Problem is, right now they need THREE starters and if anything happens to Clayton or Zack…

      • Not sure an injury history automatically makes players or pitchers riskier–especially when McCarthy’s injury list did not involve

        • Statistically a player who has an injury has a far higher likelihood of having a recurrence or a different injury than one who has no injury record.

          • Would agree quickly if talking repeat of a prior injury. Are there studies that support a broader and more general claim like yours? Links to?

          • Naw. I just made it up…. But that is my perception and I think a lot of people believe that way. I call it “The Inertia Theory”. People who are healthy tend to stay that way. The other side of that coin is People who have accidents and injuries tend to keep on having them. The insurance companies have the same philosophy and they probably have statistics to back it up.

          • Definitely so with some insurance companies who want to raise auto insurance rates for policyholders involved in more than, say, 3 accidents over 2 years–even if none were policyholder at-faults.

            “Incident-prone,” I think I’ve seen it called. They conveniently omit that they’re using it as an excuse to jack rates –and believe they can get away with it, and often do.

    • Re #3: You’d squeeze with no one out? The book says play for a big inning with none out and men on base, and I think I agree with the book here.

  5. It’s time for the FO to start talking Cole Hamels.
    1. One starter out for a year or more.
    2. Another one weak and untrusted.
    3. Still no return date for Ryu.
    4. Kershaw still looks a lot like Kershaw but other teams not rolling over like they used to. And the continuing rash of pitcher injuries has to give us nightmares about that possibility…
    5. Greinke almost certain to opt out in October, a raise from the Dodgers or some other club is all but guaranteed.
    6. Signing of Hamels or some other big name pitcher can only help negotiations with Greinke.
    7. There is a surplus of talent on the big club available for trade, not to mention those in Oklahoma not named Seager and Urias, and don’t forget about all that money.
    8. And don’t underestimate Commitment. Failing to acquire the available help to actually get us into the playoffs would be a huge black eye and denigrate their previous actions.

    • The Phils have made it clear that they would require two of three of Pederson, Urias and Seager, so that’s a non-starter. Major trades at this time of the season are extremely rare, in any event.

      The Dodgers are still the overwhelming division favorite, especially after Ryu returns. Even if Greinke should think about opting out, there’s a wealth of free agent pitchers this next off-season, including David Price and Johnny Cueto, which should depress that market somewhat.

      • Talk is cheap. And that is not a slam at you, it just means it don’t hurt to try to make a less damaging trade than that. Maybe they’ll get lucky, catch him at a weak moment… It don’t hurt to try.

    • Clayton has a babip of .384 so far, as compared to last season .281, so a lot more than usual are dropping for hits. As well, however, in first 5 games he has given up 4 dingers, as compared to 1 for first five games in 2014. So yes, and no.

      • Even if it is only bad luck, history indicates there will be an evening-out process, nobody is great forever.

          • Point of order, sir! Koufax’s first five years were decidedly mediocre, and you can look it up (as Casey Stengel said, talking of other people his age).

            I too expect Clayton to pitch past his 30th birthday, unlike Sandy.

          • I agree, but I was pressed for time when I wrote that. Had Koufax had a normal minor league experience – the “bonus-baby” rule prevented that – he would have been great throughout. Kershaw certainly should pitch longer (as Sandy well might have under current medical procedures).

          • Oh, yeah, the saddest of all possible words is “what might have been” when you think of sports medicine as it’s improved since 1966 when Koufax retired.

    • Re #7: You may think they’re surplus, but if the team who has the part you want doesn’t want them, then they’re not tradeable, at least not for the high value you hope to get in return. This is what happened with Ethier and Crawford over the winter and part of the reason they traded Kemp; no one wanted Andre or Carl at the price.

      • Lack of offense was the problem tonight.
        But he really hasn’t been the Kershaw we know since those two 7th innings vs. the Cards.

          • I defer to you on that. 🙂

            But I’m wondering if something happened to his confidence after he blew the huge lead in game one of the LDS . . . he came back and was coasting until the same 7th inning and lost that lead . . . and he started this season with a no-decision but he used that same refrain: ‘I couldn’t hold the lead.’

            Of course, it would be nice if his offense could GIVE him a lead . . . and he’s had such phenomenal success that we take him for granted.

          • I am guessing that Jon will probably do a post on his performance to date, as a lot of us are wondering what’s going on. I did a quick comparison of his first five games in 2014 and 2015 and they are surprising similar. Both include getting plastered by the Snakes, for example. His ERA in 2015 is a bit higher (3.73 versus 3.49) as is OPS against (.729 versus .702). In both years his babip is quite high (.384 versus .389). BBs are about the same (7 versus 6), more Ks (43 versus 37), HRs are higher (4 versus 1).

        • Kershaw has been very good but not dominant. I expect him to return to form sooner rather than later, but the Arias thing really irritates me.

  6. According to GameDay, Bumgarner has had at least 4 strikes called – including that last one to Turner – that have been way off the strike zone.

  7. Really ready to say bye bye to Madbums, or Badgums or whatever you want to call him.

  8. Pitch count almost the same which is something considering Kershaw was at 40 and MadBum at 19 at one point.

  9. How badly does Kershaw want to go past 6 innings. It must be frustrating to him that he hadn’t yet.

    • Great inning for him. Now if only the Dodgers can find a way to score a run or three.

  10. Needed Rollins to finally wake up with the bat. Seems like he has fallen off a cliff this year offensively (except Opening Day).

  11. Angel Pagan makes a very, very rare error……
    4th inning …
    Best pitcher in the game on the hill…..
    ….
    Turner should have been squeezing ….

    Also, just for running to 3B on that ball hit in front of him… stupid…stupid play.

    The Dodgers bottom of the 4th, in my mind, makes them unworthy of winning this game.
    They simply don’t deserve it. IMHO.

    • Pagán is not an especially good CFer. Last night, when he jumped for Turner’s home run, he was at least three feet off to the side.

      Players make mistakes. So far this season, the Gnats have made lots more mistakes than the Dodgers.

      You don’t squeeze with nobody out and the middle of the order up.

  12. Regarding the earlier post by Bob Hendley, I never imagined that I would see L.A. Mayor Sam Yorty’s name on this site. Congratulations for working him in. Didn’t he suggest a giant fan in the Hollywood Hills to blow away the smog? And he used to conduct analyses of our foreign policy with a pointer and a map of Vietnam. I will never forget a license plate I saw when he was mayor: YUK 040. It had slipped through.

  13. So, another blackout, three innings of Vin, and six innings of Steiner-imposed cringing.

    • He has talent, and is highly versatile. Not sure I’d hit him second v. BadGums, though.

  14. Giants at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.

    Kershaw CCXIV: Kershawl Blart: Mall Cop 2…Jon W continues to be creative w/ CK’s starts…

    CC to DL; Hernandez up….
    ====================
    Jimmy Rollins, SS
    Kiké Hernandez, CF
    Justin Turner, 1B
    Howie Kendrick, 2B
    Scott Van Slyke, RF
    Alex Guerrero, LF
    Juan Uribe, 3B
    A.J. Ellis, C
    Clayton Kershaw, P

  15. I’d like see Turner hit another two dingers off BadGums, and for Guerrero to join in the fun.